1951 DKW Meisterklasse brochure

"It's worth waiting for him!" DKW announces the arrival of their first post-war car - the DKW F89 Meisterklasse.

DKW's forgotten model - DKW F10

In the chaos of the immediate post-war years DKW was forced to re-establish itself virtually from scratch. The nationalisation of Auto Union’s factories in the east meant not only a forced relocation to the west, but the loss of access to the company’s designs. Some tooling and pre-war engine designs and parts were salvaged from DKW's engine reconditioning plant in Dusseldorf that the company set itself up in. This allowed the company to provide repair and servicing facilities for pre-war motorcycles cars. The next step on the company’s resurrection was to begin assembling motorcycles from stocks of spare parts scattered across the country. From this small start the company raised enough capital to purchase a vacant aircraft plant outside Dusseldorf in 1948 and they began planning a return to car manufacture.

Over in East Germany, the nationalised DKW factory, now renamed IFA, had access to the company’s plans, designs and tooling so they were able to release their own version of the wood bodied, pre-war F8 sedan in 1948.

DKW also looked back to the F8 to get back into car manufacture, but having no access to the Spandau Karosserie outside Berlin, they needed find an alternative bodybuilder. They selected Karosserie Baur from Stuttgart, who had long experience with building steel-bodied cars and convertibles.

DKW had a stock of 688cc two-cylinder, two-stroke engines on hand, but its stock of F8 chassis was largely made up from damaged and scrapped pre-war cars. In 1949 only 22 new F8 chassis trickled off the production line and were sent to Baur.

Baur mounted a handsome two door cabriolet on the old F8 chassis.  DKW followed the existing nomenclature for the new car, calling it the F10; the F8 being DKW’s last pre-war car, while the F9 was DKW’s still-born modern, steel-bodied car of 1940.

DKW's first post-war cars - the DKW F89L schnellaster van and the F10 at Ingolstadt.

The new car went on sale in January 1950. DKW produced its own F10 advertising, but then so did Baur, reflecting the car’s compromise nature.

Despite the car’s good looks, it was only on sale for a very short time, being removed from sale in August 1950, after less than 200 cars had been built. By this time, DKW’s Dusseldorf factory was finally ready to begin production of a different compromise vehicle, the DKW F89. DKW had managed to secure possession of a 1939 F9 bodyshell that had been left behind at DKW’s Spandau Karosseriewerkes. Using the shell as a template, they reverse engineered the moulds for the body presses. The new body was mounted over the modified DKW F8/F10 chassis and engine. By late 1950 the new car was ready to roll out of DKW’s own factory, thereby removing the need for the partially outsourced F10.

Horch and Audi founder, August Horch, with the new DKW F89. Despite its modern appearance it was effectively a re-bodied pre-war F8, just like the F10. 

Nevertheless, Baur continued to manufacture the F10 for some time afterward as a replacement body for older F8s. It’s believed that almost half of the 380 odd F10s built were in fact re-bodied old F8s.


But that wasn't the end. IFA in East Germany approached Baur and obtained the rights to build their four seater cabriolet. IFA built 150 F10s on Baur's behalf. All these IFA built cars were exported outside Germany.

In 1953 the state automotive collective, VEB, restructured the East German auto industry to reduce the number of models being manufactured. As IFA was producing the F9, the older F8 was retired, but several hundred chassis and engines remained in stock. BMW's old factory at Eisenach (EMW) had been instructed to stop producing its handsome EMW 328 roadster, EMW took the opportunity to body the F8s. EMW combined the styling of the Baur cabriolet with their own roadster to produce an delightful looking roadster. The F8 Luxus Cabriolet was targeted at the western export market and more than one third of the 400 odd cars was sold in the west.

75 Jahre Weltrekordfahrten bei Dessau buch

Der Hanomag-Diesel aus Hannover

Holger Eggers and Horst-Dieter Görg, Hrsg.

Im Februar 1939 fuhr Karl Haeberle, ein Ingenieur der Hanomag aus Hannover, mit einem 1,9 Liter Diesel auf der Autobahn bei Dessau anlässlich der dortigen Rekordwoche vier Weltrekorde; diese hatten bis in die späten 1950er Jahre Bestand.

75 Jahre später wird das in den Nachkriegswirren verschollene Fahrzeug auf Basis noch vorhandener, damaliger Serientechnik schrittweise rekonstruiert. Der Rohbau dieses Meilensteins der Technikgeschichte ist mit Hilfe zahlreicher Sponsoren und sehr viel privatem Engagement abgeschlossen, das Fahrzeug auch technisch einsatzbereit.

Diese erste Dokumentation zu einem außergewöhnlichen und zugleich faszinierenden Projekt schildert in mehreren reich bebilderten Beiträgen den Werdegang der Rekonstruktion des Diesel-Weltrekordwagens der Hanomag aus Hannover.


Dazu gehört auch ein Rückblick auf 1939, die angerissene Lebensgeschichte des genialen Konstrukteurs Lazar Schargorodsky, ein Blick auf historische Vorbilder, den Beginn der Aufarbeitungen, die virtuelle Auferstehung des Fahrzeugs, die Anfertigung eines professionellen Designer-Modells, die eigentliche Rekonstruktion, erste präsentationen des Projektes in der Öffentlichkeit und eine ausführliche Dokumentation der Historischen Rekordwoche Dessau im Oktober 2014 – einschließlich internationalem Pressespiegel.

Dieses Projekt wurde initiiert vom Arbeitskreis Technik- und Industriegeschichte in der Region Hannover (kurz AK TIG), dem auch die Herausgeber angehören. Das Fahrzeug ist als Meilenstein der Technikgeschichte Bestandteil der Sammlung Hanomag IG, die ein Teil der in Gründung begriffenen „Hanomag-Stiftung“ zur Erhaltung kultureller Werte werden soll.


The car reconstruction finished in 2018.


80 Seiten, ca. 130 meist farbige Abbildungen, Hardcover, 22 x 27 cm (Din-A4-Querformat), ISBN 978-3-923976-97-3, Leuenhagen and Paris, Hannover, 19,90 € zuzüglich 4,90 € Versandkostenpauschale. http://www.leuenhagen-paris.de/132.html?&css=0.10.03.14 and http://www.amazon.de/Jahre-Weltrekordfahrten-bei-Dessau-Hanomag-Diesel/dp/3923976976

75 Anniversary of Hanomag Diesel Rekordwagen book

The Hanomag-diesel from Hannover

(Holger Eggers and Horst-Dieter Görg, editors.)

In February 1939 Karl Haeberle, an engineer from the Hanomag company of Hannover, set four world records in a 1.9 litre diesel streamliner on the highway at Dessau. The records stood until the late 1950s.

75 years later, the Hanomag Rekordwagen, the original of which had been lost in the war, has been slowly reconstructed using the original designs and surviving components. The reconstruction of this technological marvel of history has been completed with the help of numerous sponsors and the commitment of a dedicated group of enthusiasts.

This book, richly illustrated with photographs, documents both the extraordinary and fascinating project to reconstruct the diesel world record car, and the Hanomag Company’s contribution to history and diesel technology.

The book includes:

• a 1939 review of the life story of the car’s brilliant designer, Lazar Schargorodsky;
• a look at historical examples of diesel vehicles;
• the beginning of the work-ups of the replica;
• the ‘virtual’ resurrection of the vehicle;
• the making of a professional designer model;
• the actual reconstruction;
• the first presentations of the project in public, and;
• detailed documentation of the historical record week exhibition in Dessau in October 2014, including international press reports.

This project was initiated by the Working Group, Technical and Industrial History in the region of Hannover (AK TIG). The vehicle is a key exhibit in the history of technology collection of Hanomag IG, which is a part of the "Hanomag Foundation" for the preservation of cultural values.

The book was released at the Essen Technoclassica in April 2015.



80 pages, about 130 mostly color illustrations, hardcover, 22 x 27 cm (Din A4 landscape), ISBN 978-3-923976-97-3, Leuenhagen and Paris, Hanover, € 19.90 plus € 4.90 flat rate shipping costs.
http://www.leuenhagen-paris.de/132.html?&css=0.10.03.14 and http://www.amazon.de/Jahre-Weltrekordfahrten-bei-Dessau-Hanomag-Diesel/dp/3923976976

1950 IFA F9 Roadster prototype

The Fahrzeugmuseum in Chemnitz, the home town of Auto-Union, is currently hosting an exhibition of early IFA cars. Amongst the cars on display is one very rare and special car – the only IFA F9 two seater roadster ever built.

The Auto Union Group (Audi, DKW, Horch and Wanderer) found itself on the wrong side of the border after Germany was divided into East and West at the end of the Second World War. While a company was re-founded in the West at Ingolstadt, their factories in the East were nationalised by the communist government and renamed IFA. IFA inherited DKW's plans, tools and designs, and in 1949 they were able to put into production their version of DKW's 1939 F9.

This very early IFA brochure for the F9 features marketing photographs of the original DKW F9 taken in September 1939. IFA's F9 was so similar in outward appearance to the DKW original few would have noticed.


East Germany may have been communist, but the people at IFA still wanted to build nice cars, so IFA decided to spruce up the F9 sedan and offer a two-seat roadster version. A single coach-built prototype was built and exhibited at the Leipzig Motor Show in 1950. The car was sleek and handsome and clearly targeted the export market in the west.

The prototype roadster in its heyday. The car originally had a silver finish. This photo was most likely taken when it was privately owned.

However, at almost exactly the same time DKW in West Germany had just released their version of the F9, named the F89. DKW did not have access to the car's original three-cylinder 900cc engine so the DKW version had to make do with the older, two-cylinder 700cc engine. Included in the range was a lovely two-seater Karmann bodied roadster.

The DKW Luxus Zweisitzer, or luxury two-seater, was bodied by Karmann Karosserie, who would later gain fame with the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia. These exclusive, hand-built cars came in coupe and cabriolet form. They were only offered between 1950 and 1955 and are extremely rare and sought after these days.


From IFA's perspective the release of the DKW F89 was unwelcome news. The car was basically the same car as the IFA F9 but even though the IFA car had a better engine, DKW had an established service network in the west that IFA simply could compete with. At that time IFA was already producing a coach-built roadster in the IFA F8 Luxus and didn't have the capacity to produce a second model so IFA decided to drop the F9 roadster idea. No more were built and the single prototype was sold to IFA works driver, Harald Linke in 1951, who drove it as his family car until 1957. After he sold the car it disappeared from sight and was rumored to have been scrapped.

Harald Linke behind the wheel of the prototype at a race meet in Hohenstein-Ernstthal.

Jump forward sixty old years and DKW enthusiast named Peter Lott from Stendal heard a rumor that there was a two-seater F9 somewhere in Berlin. From that slender lead he began an extensive search that finally paid off when he tracked down the car, parked under a lean-to in a garden in Koepeinek, East Berlin. The car was badly rusted and as the car had been exposed to the weather for decades, the interior was completely rotted out. It had also been altered substantially over the years.

Lott assessed the car as probably beyond economical repair and passed the lead on to DKW enthusiast and historian, Frieder Bach, who purchased the car. In December 2014 the car was part of a special display at the Fahrzeugmuseum, dedicated the F9 'people's car.' The roadster was displayed 'as found' under a replica of the lean-to. When the exhibition closed in March, the car was returned to Bach for restoration. I would expect this would take quite a few years.

Harald Linke is reunited with the car in the museum exhibition.

The interior is completely gutted and the floor rotted out in places.

When completely restored it will look like this replica roadster.

Starting with baby steps. DKW body restorer, Winfried Kuhl, replicated the dashboard from molds and measurements taken from the original DKW F9 prototype. http://dkw-karosseriebau.de/

For more information about the display and the museum, visit their website - http://www.fahrzeugmuseum-chemnitz.de/ and http://www.chemnitzer-geschichtsverein.de/CGV/Veranstaltungen.htm and https://www.zwischengas.com/de/news/F9-Sonderausstellung-im-Fahrzeugmuseum-Chemnitz.html and http://www.rt-forum.de/t1094f35-Saechsisches-Fahrzeugmuseum-Chemnitz.html  and http://www.kulturgut-mobilitaet.de/forum/6-plauderecke/23346-vorstellung-der-forumsmitglieder-mit-ihren-autos?start=320